It's worth mentioning regarding why Baltimore's subway is this way is that when Baltimore's subway system was originally envisioned in the 1960s, it was envisioned to be six metro lines radiating out from a central city loop and aimed to be a 71-mile system. In 1971, this was trimmed to a 28-mile system in the Phase 1 plan. This Phase 1 plan involved two of the original six lines, a northwest line from Downtown Baltimore to Owings Mills and a south line to Glen Burnie and the airport. The northwest line was seen as the ideal starting point for construction of the system, because the northwest corridor was the most congested traffic corridor in the city. The northeast corridor in the city was also pretty congested, but the advantage that the northwest line had was that an existing mainline railroad corridor, the Western Maryland Railway. The Maryland government approved funding for it in 1972. However, citizens and leaders in Anne Arundel County fought against the south line because they feared crime would increase because of the subway. In response, the south line was removed from the plan, thus only the northwest line was built as a metro line. As mentioned, the system initially opened in 1983. In 1987, it was extended from Reisterstown Plaza to Owings Mills and was finally extended from Charles Center to Johns Hopkins Hospital in May 1995. The concept for the south line to Glen Burnie and the airport eventually became a light-rail system.
The MTA owns a low power FM station WTTZ 93.5 which plays smooth Jazz along with Transit and Traffic info. Their slogan is “The station that moves you!”
These stations are so good man. You can see that they clearly envisioned a much more comprehensive system when this was built. Baltimore's Metro is our missing, final Great Societies Metro. Hopefully someday the city gets the big, comprehensive Metro system it deserves, just like DC has.
Oh yeah! This is one section of a total of 6. The proposed Light Rail Red line would cover a similar path to the original map east-west but be a Light Rail line, not Metro
I haven't rode the light rail in decades. Transit police used to check for tickets and then they switched to fare checkers. Only recently have they switched to shorter cars.
@DanHominem I used to ride regularly during the 90s and would always get checked for fair. Like I said, haven't been on for a very long time (22 years).
I appreciate your more positive take on these 2 systems, it seems like a lot of transit folks come to Baltimore just to point out all the negatives about them (of which there are admittedly many) or worse treat it like some kind of punchline when compared to other Northeast Corridor cities. I also think Baltimore has big potential, the 2002 regional rail proposal seemed like a relatively solid plan (if of course we could just start building it, but alas...) Nevertheless, I think if they actually go through with the red line and bother to make service improvements to what we have now, we have the bones for a really good city for transit, and it's nice to see that pointed out! I'm just hopeful that someday my plans for living in a more transit friendly place don't have to involve leaving Baltimore for DC.
Welcome to the resistance against dots...our leader Miles in Transit welcomes you! 😂The Budd Universal Transit Vehicle was also formerly used by Miami's Metrorail system from 1983 to 2020. They were designed at Budd's Red Lion plant in Northeast Philly, and they're identical to the Miami ones since they were built at the same time and saved money by sharing a single order. The jazz you mentioned is because of a radio station that their transit administration set up, WTTZ-LP, which plays smooth jazz with transit and traffic information sprinkled in there.
@AverytheCubanAmerican I had known that Baltimore and Miami Metro-rail was built with matching railcars. That was one of the last projects of Budd - Red Lion Road. I think the last was railcars for Chicago CTA in about 1985-86.
@@mystica-subsIt's tragic really. When Governor Larry Hogan cancelled the Red Line project, his administration "made up" for it by changing the major bus routes from numbers to colors and naming everything "Link". So stupid!🤢
oh boy. I lived in Baltimore in 2003, and have visited a few times since. The single subway line and slow crawl of a light rail up ~~Light~~ Howard St. in downtown were oddities, but I did appreciate the nice higher-speed rail stock used (compared to the Siemens SD100 I rode in Denver years prior, and still do), the very specific "half the train seats point one way, half the train seats point the other way, they split at the middle, and NOBODY has to stare directly at ANYONE ELSE" seating arrangement, and the fact that it went to the airport, pretty darn reliably too after the full double-tracking project was completed. I'm going to enjoy this one!
Hmm its interesting the Penn Station branch is closed, as well as that they are only running single-vehicle train consists on Light Rail. I remember 2-3 vehicle consists when I was there.
In my opinion, closing the Penn Station spur makes sense. The station isn’t on the main line, and sometimes you’d jump on a train going north, just to end up having to jump off at Mt Royal because it was dead ending at Penn. And the walk from Mt Royal to Penn isn’t that far
The trains are being run, single train because all the other trains are in for repair. They were doing a midlife overhaul, and then one of the trains had an electrical fire or something similar, so they pulled all the trains to inspect. The vendor doing the overhaul is taking forever, unfortunately.
Here's hoping that one day the red line gets built and we get a proper connection between the lovely and under-utilized subway and another rapid transit line.
I rode both the Baltimore Metro Subway and the light rail i do agree with your comparison of both systems. The Metro Subway is still kind of stuck in those 1980s Subway style, like at the Jamaica Center station. On the E, J, and Z lines or any of the NYC Subway stations built in the 1980s. It is only one lined and very tiny system it's much cleaner than our subway system in New York. The Baltimore light rail through downtown can be slow because of the traffic, but outside the city, it's, it can reach areas outside of Downtown Baltimore pretty fast. In my last visit, recently, i'm still disappointed that I can't take the light rail from Baltimore Penn Station station to Camden Yards. I do hope they do expand the system. Connecting both the subway and light rail.With the red line plan that they've been putting out. They had one plan for the Red Line when years ago, and that was canceled i guess due to its high cost. It's wonderful that they do play the jazz in both systems. Did you know that MTA Maryland have their own radio station? That's where it's based from. It's WTTZ-LP that radio station not only plays the jazz music. That's in both the subway and light rail, but it also gives traffic information in Baltimore and the status of both the MARC trains and entre MTA Maryland system. Don't forget the MTA Maryland is also building the Purple line LRT around the DC area. They are starting around New Carrollton to Silver Spring. Great video by the way!!
The artwork at Lexington Market is called Geometro and was created by Baltimore artist Patricia Alexander. Alexander drew on the panoply of tile patterns that historic monuments, like the 13th-century Alhambra, have to offer, as well as examples of tilework she saw while traveling in North and West Africa in the 1970s. Baltimore is called "Charm City" because of a 1975 meeting of advertisers who created the slogan to improve the city's image. The slogan was the brainchild of Baltimore's then-mayor, William Donald Schaefer, who asked the city's advertising executives to come up with a new way to promote the city. The slogan refers to Baltimore's history, hidden charm, architecture, pop culture icons, and traditions. The commuter Camden Line is interesting in that it's one of the US's oldest rail routes still in operation as the B&O began running commuter service from Baltimore to Ellicott City (Ellicott City station closed but is the oldest remaining passenger railway station in the US) over part of the trackage in May 1830! The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States! Not to mention the B&O's Washington Branch Railway, now along the Camden Line, was the first railroad to serve DC! Baltimore fun facts: Babe Ruth was also born in Baltimore in 1895! In 1774, the first post office in the US was inaugurated in Baltimore, and ten years later in 1884, Baltimore made history again by establishing the first telegraph line in the country, connecting to Washington DC. Composer Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics to the Star-Spangled Banner while witnessing the flag flying over Fort McHenry during the War of 1812, set to the tune of a British song called "To Anacreon in Heaven". To honor Fort McHenry's role, it has become national tradition that when a new flag is designed it first flies over Fort McHenry! Baltimore was the site of the first manned balloon launch in the US! Edward Warren, a 13-year-old, flew in the balloon, which had been provided by Peter Carnes, a tavern keeper and lawyer, in a wicker “chariot.” Carnes had wanted to be the one to ride in the basket, however, he was too heavy to do so. Warren’s balloon flight began a balloon craze that swept the country from the late 1700s to the early 1800s. Maryland has quite the unique state flag! Whether you like the Maryland flag or not, there's no denying that the Maryland flag is unique. While other states put their shield/coat of arms in the middle of the flag, in the case of Maryland...it makes up the WHOLE flag! It's the 17th-century heraldic banner of arms of Cecil, 2nd Baron Baltimore. The black and gold is Lord Baltimore's banner (from his father, George Calvert 1st Baron Baltimore) and is also on the flag of Baltimore (though the Baltimore flag has the Battle Monument in the middle which commemorates the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812), while the red and white is called the Crossland banner and is from his grandmother. During the Civil War, Marylanders who sided with the Confederacy affiliated with the Crossland banner while those who fought for the Union wore the Lord Baltimore banner. The flag in its present form was first flown in 1880 but wasn't officially adopted as the state flag until 1904.
LR goes Anne Arundel County on both south ends. The line was originally envisioned as heavy rail with a transfer station with the existing Metro at Charles Center.
The light-rail system was an alternative to a south line of the subway system to Glen Burnie and BWI, but Anne Arundel County fought against it, so it was eliminated from the subway plan in 1975. The light-rail uses ROW once used by interurban streetcar lines and the commuter rail routes of the Northern Central Railway, Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway, and Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad. It was built quickly and inexpensively without federal funds so it could be built in time for Orioles Park's opening at Camden Yards, thus because of that, to save money, much of the system was built with only a single track. While this allowed the system to be constructed and opened quickly, it limited the system's flexibility, and so federal money was later acquired to double track most of the system. Shortly before Warren Road Station (heading north), the light rail splits from the former mainline at a wye (the original mainline disappears into trees and the remaining rail ends at the next road crossing). The light rail then follows the route of a former freight spur which was constructed in the 1970s to serve the industrial park the line now travels through. There were actually some spurs off this spur to various industries, some of which are still partially in-place and can be seen curving away from the right of way when riding. The freight line ended at McCormick Spice, which obviously wasn't ideal for light-rail, so beyond this point, the tracks follow the existing street grid (hence the single-track section with tight curves). Freight service actually lasted until around 2006 to Cockeysville, and 2012 to a couple of industries between North Avenue and Falls Road. Station placement and design were intended to be flexible and change over time, as stations could be built or closed at low cost. However, they were at times dictated by politics rather planning, as proposed stops in Ruxton, Riderwood, and Cross Keys were not built due to local opposition, while Mt. Royal and Timonium stations were built despite nearly being removed from the plan because the University of Baltimore and a local business group funded them. In regard to Cold Spring Lane, there is a bus stop for two different routes when you exit onto Cold Spring Lane, there's a connection to the Jones Falls Trail, and students also use the station as if you walk east of the station, it serves Western High School and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. MTA tried to build "TOD" for this station with a 16-acre parcel with 284 units called "The Woodberry" but it ironically has poor connectivity to the station. So yeah, the light-rail goes through the least-densely populated parts for much of the journey, there was a lot of opposition to stations (which is also why they opted not to build one at Glen Burnie town center), and freight right of way limited the connectivity of the stations to the areas where they are located. Compare that with the HBLR in New Jersey which also mainly uses repurposed right-of-way but they go through packed neighborhoods, there's Citi Bike bikeshare stations at HBLR stops, has great connections to jitneys, ferries, buses, PATH, and NJT rail (the latter at Hoboken Terminal), and when in downtown Jersey City, it's still in its own right-of-way (except Essex Street where it's street running) and have priority signals (though Baltimore also has transit priority signals between Camden and Mount Royal, implemented in 2007 and resulted in time savings of 25%)
Nice comparison video. I would have to agree that the subway is much better than the light rail! Perhaps ordering new vehicles that could interline through the subway through downtown would be good to speed up the line, or create separate local tram tracks like you see in Philly!
When I rode both, the Metro seemed cleaner, quicker, and more consistent than the Light Rail. The Light Rail was painfully slow and came at the most random times. The Light Rail does go more places which is a plus; however, it should really be a heavy rail-style system. It's about as long as most DC Metro lines for instance.
I think you were on the light rail on a strange day. Ordinarily, it is far cleaner than the Metro, and the light rail cars don't smell like old pee like the Metro cars and stations do.
There is actually a rail tunnel under Howard Street - from Camden Yards to North Street (i.e., the entire distance that the Light Rail trains currently operate in street traffic in downtown Baltimore). That tunnel is used by freight rail. If the freight rail user(s) could be convinced to route their trains through the Baltimore region on different rail rights-of-way (of which there are several), that tunnel could be used by the Light Rail - eliminating street running entirely. Also, outside of downtown Baltimore (both north and south of downtown), Light Rail trains electronically seize all intersections, and rail crossing barriers lower to block all automobile, truck, and bus traffic. This allows Light Rail trains to maintain top speed at all road and highway intersections outside of the downtown. So, the Light Rail does have some decent features, and could be brought up to modern standards fairly easily. The current limit of three-car trains is dictated by the road-block-lengths in downtown Baltimore. Converting the Howard Street tunnel to Light Rail use would allow four-car-trains to be used during passenger crush periods (e.g., after baseball or football games).
It really irritates me that they won't consider building out the metro, the existing line is nice but it basically doesn't connect to anything else. The Red Line probably should be another metro line and historically was supposed to be, but it's proposed as light rail because the feds were handing out money for light rail back in 2009. The existing light rail has a bad reputation for all the reasons you mentioned, a little bit of blatant racism too, and the fact that Howard Street is an urbex paradise, so I don't know if they'll ever actually build another one.
OH FOR CRYIN' 😂🤣 YOU JUST HAD TO use the RTD light rail going 30 around a 10mph corner... [An aside: That is one of the crappiest extensions of a rail line - no station stop anywhere along the street that could directly serve a Walmart and a fairly high occupancy strip mall, no, you get one station in the middle of a freeway sideroad near no useful shops, and another at a mall which is a very long walk away from the aforementioned stripmall and walmart. And its 95% at grade, with NO signal priority at many different busy avenue crossings.]
@@DanHominem Indeed, I am talking of the specific section of the R line, from Peoria station to the current H-line downtown/southeast connecting route terminus at 2nd and Abilene station. From this point south, its all dedicated RoW, but 2nd and Abilene north consists of only 2 rail bridges and the rest at-grade usually waiting for the light crossings.
Well OK i guess Colfax station is a bridge itself, and the bit that goes under I-225 just south of it counts as dedicated RoW but consider Sable and Alameda, as well as Sable and Exposition where the train went off the rails. Peoria and 32nd is another very long wait. Sometimes there is a wait north of Colfax station at the 17th avenue grade crossing. (And the fact the H line can't terminate at Aurora Metro Center is a huge wtf)
Baltimore transit in general is a joke. LRT, Metro, Buses and Marc. Marc is probably the best of them. Not sure why Baltimore has such poor transit compared to all the other big northeast cities. Good video though.
I used to ride them both really frequently but I would say on days its actually running normally subway but the light rail north of cultural center is pretty good and south of camden yards
You know subway is better. They need to double stack the current subway with a new upper level replacing mezzanines to reroute the LRT to so it can go faster the street portion is a failure. FYI charmcard exists. You can add charm passes to the smart trip
Why do Baltimore's light rail vehicles appear to be the chonkiest of the Americas' lrt trains? Is it bc the windows are small? Does the Baltimore lrt actually have a bigger loading gauge?
Fun fact! When the light rail was first built, they had to give enough clearance in the stations to let freight cars move through as some of the tracks would be going on an active freight route. So, the high-level ramps had to be far from the tracks, and the vehicle had to reach the ramp, so the light rail cars were built to be weirdly wide to accommodate that. Now, freight doesn't run along the tracks anymore, but that little artifact remains.
I think the main reason they have a light rail is because of the Orioles. When they proposed creating a new ball park at Camden Yards, I remember hearing something about before they would commit to moving there they wanted some sort of transit system close. It’s kind of a moot point to ask which one is better, it’s not like you have an option to take one or the other. It depends on where you’re going, they go in totally different directions lol
I would LOVE LRT to be low floor. Dragging a heavy suitcase up those steep stairs is no fun! And they won’t let you use the ramp if you don’t have a disability And those signs for time have nothing to do with reality. Same for MARC. Transit app is the way here
It's worth mentioning regarding why Baltimore's subway is this way is that when Baltimore's subway system was originally envisioned in the 1960s, it was envisioned to be six metro lines radiating out from a central city loop and aimed to be a 71-mile system. In 1971, this was trimmed to a 28-mile system in the Phase 1 plan. This Phase 1 plan involved two of the original six lines, a northwest line from Downtown Baltimore to Owings Mills and a south line to Glen Burnie and the airport. The northwest line was seen as the ideal starting point for construction of the system, because the northwest corridor was the most congested traffic corridor in the city. The northeast corridor in the city was also pretty congested, but the advantage that the northwest line had was that an existing mainline railroad corridor, the Western Maryland Railway. The Maryland government approved funding for it in 1972. However, citizens and leaders in Anne Arundel County fought against the south line because they feared crime would increase because of the subway. In response, the south line was removed from the plan, thus only the northwest line was built as a metro line. As mentioned, the system initially opened in 1983. In 1987, it was extended from Reisterstown Plaza to Owings Mills and was finally extended from Charles Center to Johns Hopkins Hospital in May 1995. The concept for the south line to Glen Burnie and the airport eventually became a light-rail system.
@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un
I thought this Metro line was built along with the I-795 road,
so... along an abandoned Western Maryland Railway,
too.
@SupremeLeaderKimJong-Un I thought you were gonna boast about how Pyongyang’s subway is way superior than americas lol
I mean... It doesnt take much to be better than most of America's metros lol
Though I do suppose functioning electricity would help
@grantberk
I have seen Pyonyang Metro on RUclips.
I think it was running train-cars second-hand from eastern Europe.
I remember Maryland public tv [at Owings Mills] Motorweek used the newly-built I-795 as a test-track in about 1985.
The MTA owns a low power FM station WTTZ 93.5 which plays smooth Jazz along with Transit and Traffic info. Their slogan is “The station that moves you!”
20:00 Except the part where it passes Towson far to the west, where there's not a single stop for six miles between Lutherville and Falls Rd.
These stations are so good man. You can see that they clearly envisioned a much more comprehensive system when this was built. Baltimore's Metro is our missing, final Great Societies Metro. Hopefully someday the city gets the big, comprehensive Metro system it deserves, just like DC has.
Oh yeah! This is one section of a total of 6. The proposed Light Rail Red line would cover a similar path to the original map east-west but be a Light Rail line, not Metro
I haven't rode the light rail in decades. Transit police used to check for tickets and then they switched to fare checkers. Only recently have they switched to shorter cars.
Ive been on the LRT many times and have *never* seen the fares get enforced
@DanHominem I used to ride regularly during the 90s and would always get checked for fair. Like I said, haven't been on for a very long time (22 years).
They play jazz at MARC stations too. Totally unique aspect. I live on Long Island and I wish New York stations would have that.
I appreciate your more positive take on these 2 systems, it seems like a lot of transit folks come to Baltimore just to point out all the negatives about them (of which there are admittedly many) or worse treat it like some kind of punchline when compared to other Northeast Corridor cities. I also think Baltimore has big potential, the 2002 regional rail proposal seemed like a relatively solid plan (if of course we could just start building it, but alas...) Nevertheless, I think if they actually go through with the red line and bother to make service improvements to what we have now, we have the bones for a really good city for transit, and it's nice to see that pointed out! I'm just hopeful that someday my plans for living in a more transit friendly place don't have to involve leaving Baltimore for DC.
Baltimore native here. There both suck. Sadly, driving is normally the better option at all times. Even during heavy congestion.
Welcome to the resistance against dots...our leader Miles in Transit welcomes you! 😂The Budd Universal Transit Vehicle was also formerly used by Miami's Metrorail system from 1983 to 2020. They were designed at Budd's Red Lion plant in Northeast Philly, and they're identical to the Miami ones since they were built at the same time and saved money by sharing a single order. The jazz you mentioned is because of a radio station that their transit administration set up, WTTZ-LP, which plays smooth jazz with transit and traffic information sprinkled in there.
Wasn't aware Miami retired the UTVs. Someone already linked me to the MTA Baltimore Metro JazzLink lol
@@DanHominem JazzLink? 😂😂😂
@@S-CB-SL-Animations Baltimore is all *Link now. I find it funny.
@AverytheCubanAmerican
I had known that Baltimore and Miami Metro-rail was built with matching railcars. That was one of the last projects of Budd - Red Lion Road. I think the last was railcars for Chicago CTA in about 1985-86.
@@mystica-subsIt's tragic really. When Governor Larry Hogan cancelled the Red Line project, his administration "made up" for it by changing the major bus routes from numbers to colors and naming everything "Link". So stupid!🤢
oh boy. I lived in Baltimore in 2003, and have visited a few times since. The single subway line and slow crawl of a light rail up ~~Light~~ Howard St. in downtown were oddities, but I did appreciate the nice higher-speed rail stock used (compared to the Siemens SD100 I rode in Denver years prior, and still do), the very specific "half the train seats point one way, half the train seats point the other way, they split at the middle, and NOBODY has to stare directly at ANYONE ELSE" seating arrangement, and the fact that it went to the airport, pretty darn reliably too after the full double-tracking project was completed.
I'm going to enjoy this one!
Hmm its interesting the Penn Station branch is closed, as well as that they are only running single-vehicle train consists on Light Rail. I remember 2-3 vehicle consists when I was there.
In my opinion, closing the Penn Station spur makes sense. The station isn’t on the main line, and sometimes you’d jump on a train going north, just to end up having to jump off at Mt Royal because it was dead ending at Penn. And the walk from Mt Royal to Penn isn’t that far
The trains are being run, single train because all the other trains are in for repair. They were doing a midlife overhaul, and then one of the trains had an electrical fire or something similar, so they pulled all the trains to inspect. The vendor doing the overhaul is taking forever, unfortunately.
15:49 Nice of them for not covering the windows.
Here's hoping that one day the red line gets built and we get a proper connection between the lovely and under-utilized subway and another rapid transit line.
I love the voice though. I hope they keep it with the new trains from Hitachi, but I doubt it :(.
Lived in Baltimore for 10 years. My first reaction to this was “wait we have a metro?”
I rode both the Baltimore Metro Subway and the light rail i do agree with your comparison of both systems. The Metro Subway is still kind of stuck in those 1980s Subway style, like at the Jamaica Center station. On the E, J, and Z lines or any of the NYC Subway stations built in the 1980s. It is only one lined and very tiny system it's much cleaner than our subway system in New York. The Baltimore light rail through downtown can be slow because of the traffic, but outside the city, it's, it can reach areas outside of Downtown Baltimore pretty fast. In my last visit, recently, i'm still disappointed that I can't take the light rail from Baltimore Penn Station station to Camden Yards. I do hope they do expand the system. Connecting both the subway and light rail.With the red line plan that they've been putting out. They had one plan for the Red Line when years ago, and that was canceled i guess due to its high cost. It's wonderful that they do play the jazz in both systems. Did you know that MTA Maryland have their own radio station? That's where it's based from. It's WTTZ-LP that radio station not only plays the jazz music. That's in both the subway and light rail, but it also gives traffic information in Baltimore and the status of both the MARC trains and entre MTA Maryland system. Don't forget the MTA Maryland is also building the Purple line LRT around the DC area. They are starting around New Carrollton to Silver Spring. Great video by the way!!
Miami for such a long time did use budd cars but actually has fully replaced them to my knowledge. But great video.
Thanks 😊
The artwork at Lexington Market is called Geometro and was created by Baltimore artist Patricia Alexander. Alexander drew on the panoply of tile patterns that historic monuments, like the 13th-century Alhambra, have to offer, as well as examples of tilework she saw while traveling in North and West Africa in the 1970s. Baltimore is called "Charm City" because of a 1975 meeting of advertisers who created the slogan to improve the city's image. The slogan was the brainchild of Baltimore's then-mayor, William Donald Schaefer, who asked the city's advertising executives to come up with a new way to promote the city. The slogan refers to Baltimore's history, hidden charm, architecture, pop culture icons, and traditions. The commuter Camden Line is interesting in that it's one of the US's oldest rail routes still in operation as the B&O began running commuter service from Baltimore to Ellicott City (Ellicott City station closed but is the oldest remaining passenger railway station in the US) over part of the trackage in May 1830! The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States! Not to mention the B&O's Washington Branch Railway, now along the Camden Line, was the first railroad to serve DC!
Baltimore fun facts: Babe Ruth was also born in Baltimore in 1895! In 1774, the first post office in the US was inaugurated in Baltimore, and ten years later in 1884, Baltimore made history again by establishing the first telegraph line in the country, connecting to Washington DC. Composer Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics to the Star-Spangled Banner while witnessing the flag flying over Fort McHenry during the War of 1812, set to the tune of a British song called "To Anacreon in Heaven". To honor Fort McHenry's role, it has become national tradition that when a new flag is designed it first flies over Fort McHenry! Baltimore was the site of the first manned balloon launch in the US! Edward Warren, a 13-year-old, flew in the balloon, which had been provided by Peter Carnes, a tavern keeper and lawyer, in a wicker “chariot.” Carnes had wanted to be the one to ride in the basket, however, he was too heavy to do so. Warren’s balloon flight began a balloon craze that swept the country from the late 1700s to the early 1800s. Maryland has quite the unique state flag! Whether you like the Maryland flag or not, there's no denying that the Maryland flag is unique. While other states put their shield/coat of arms in the middle of the flag, in the case of Maryland...it makes up the WHOLE flag! It's the 17th-century heraldic banner of arms of Cecil, 2nd Baron Baltimore. The black and gold is Lord Baltimore's banner (from his father, George Calvert 1st Baron Baltimore) and is also on the flag of Baltimore (though the Baltimore flag has the Battle Monument in the middle which commemorates the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812), while the red and white is called the Crossland banner and is from his grandmother. During the Civil War, Marylanders who sided with the Confederacy affiliated with the Crossland banner while those who fought for the Union wore the Lord Baltimore banner. The flag in its present form was first flown in 1880 but wasn't officially adopted as the state flag until 1904.
20:22 What's an imaginary lion?
LR goes Anne Arundel County on both south ends. The line was originally envisioned as heavy rail with a transfer station with the existing Metro at Charles Center.
It also serves Anne Arundel country
The light-rail system was an alternative to a south line of the subway system to Glen Burnie and BWI, but Anne Arundel County fought against it, so it was eliminated from the subway plan in 1975. The light-rail uses ROW once used by interurban streetcar lines and the commuter rail routes of the Northern Central Railway, Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway, and Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad. It was built quickly and inexpensively without federal funds so it could be built in time for Orioles Park's opening at Camden Yards, thus because of that, to save money, much of the system was built with only a single track. While this allowed the system to be constructed and opened quickly, it limited the system's flexibility, and so federal money was later acquired to double track most of the system. Shortly before Warren Road Station (heading north), the light rail splits from the former mainline at a wye (the original mainline disappears into trees and the remaining rail ends at the next road crossing). The light rail then follows the route of a former freight spur which was constructed in the 1970s to serve the industrial park the line now travels through. There were actually some spurs off this spur to various industries, some of which are still partially in-place and can be seen curving away from the right of way when riding. The freight line ended at McCormick Spice, which obviously wasn't ideal for light-rail, so beyond this point, the tracks follow the existing street grid (hence the single-track section with tight curves). Freight service actually lasted until around 2006 to Cockeysville, and 2012 to a couple of industries between North Avenue and Falls Road.
Station placement and design were intended to be flexible and change over time, as stations could be built or closed at low cost. However, they were at times dictated by politics rather planning, as proposed stops in Ruxton, Riderwood, and Cross Keys were not built due to local opposition, while Mt. Royal and Timonium stations were built despite nearly being removed from the plan because the University of Baltimore and a local business group funded them. In regard to Cold Spring Lane, there is a bus stop for two different routes when you exit onto Cold Spring Lane, there's a connection to the Jones Falls Trail, and students also use the station as if you walk east of the station, it serves Western High School and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. MTA tried to build "TOD" for this station with a 16-acre parcel with 284 units called "The Woodberry" but it ironically has poor connectivity to the station. So yeah, the light-rail goes through the least-densely populated parts for much of the journey, there was a lot of opposition to stations (which is also why they opted not to build one at Glen Burnie town center), and freight right of way limited the connectivity of the stations to the areas where they are located. Compare that with the HBLR in New Jersey which also mainly uses repurposed right-of-way but they go through packed neighborhoods, there's Citi Bike bikeshare stations at HBLR stops, has great connections to jitneys, ferries, buses, PATH, and NJT rail (the latter at Hoboken Terminal), and when in downtown Jersey City, it's still in its own right-of-way (except Essex Street where it's street running) and have priority signals (though Baltimore also has transit priority signals between Camden and Mount Royal, implemented in 2007 and resulted in time savings of 25%)
@AverytheCubanAmerican
I have walked and cycled on the B&A park-trail south of Glen Burnie.
Fun fact the new subway rail cars are in testing and i saw them twice
the light rail is better becuase it actually goes anywhere useful
Nice comparison video. I would have to agree that the subway is much better than the light rail! Perhaps ordering new vehicles that could interline through the subway through downtown would be good to speed up the line, or create separate local tram tracks like you see in Philly!
When I rode both, the Metro seemed cleaner, quicker, and more consistent than the Light Rail. The Light Rail was painfully slow and came at the most random times. The Light Rail does go more places which is a plus; however, it should really be a heavy rail-style system. It's about as long as most DC Metro lines for instance.
I think you were on the light rail on a strange day. Ordinarily, it is far cleaner than the Metro, and the light rail cars don't smell like old pee like the Metro cars and stations do.
I've been on the light rail several times, it's always a wild ride.
Correction: Plural tense - It's Owings Mills, not Owings Mill.
Correction: tense refers to time (past, present, future) not plural versus singular.
There is actually a rail tunnel under Howard Street - from Camden Yards to North Street (i.e., the entire distance that the Light Rail trains currently operate in street traffic in downtown Baltimore). That tunnel is used by freight rail. If the freight rail user(s) could be convinced to route their trains through the Baltimore region on different rail rights-of-way (of which there are several), that tunnel could be used by the Light Rail - eliminating street running entirely. Also, outside of downtown Baltimore (both north and south of downtown), Light Rail trains electronically seize all intersections, and rail crossing barriers lower to block all automobile, truck, and bus traffic. This allows Light Rail trains to maintain top speed at all road and highway intersections outside of the downtown. So, the Light Rail does have some decent features, and could be brought up to modern standards fairly easily. The current limit of three-car trains is dictated by the road-block-lengths in downtown Baltimore. Converting the Howard Street tunnel to Light Rail use would allow four-car-trains to be used during passenger crush periods (e.g., after baseball or football games).
It really irritates me that they won't consider building out the metro, the existing line is nice but it basically doesn't connect to anything else. The Red Line probably should be another metro line and historically was supposed to be, but it's proposed as light rail because the feds were handing out money for light rail back in 2009. The existing light rail has a bad reputation for all the reasons you mentioned, a little bit of blatant racism too, and the fact that Howard Street is an urbex paradise, so I don't know if they'll ever actually build another one.
The subway link goes west to east.. not north. The light rail goes north and south.
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OH FOR CRYIN' 😂🤣 YOU JUST HAD TO use the RTD light rail going 30 around a 10mph corner... [An aside: That is one of the crappiest extensions of a rail line - no station stop anywhere along the street that could directly serve a Walmart and a fairly high occupancy strip mall, no, you get one station in the middle of a freeway sideroad near no useful shops, and another at a mall which is a very long walk away from the aforementioned stripmall and walmart. And its 95% at grade, with NO signal priority at many different busy avenue crossings.]
I intend on doing a video on RTD within the next year. I've been on the Aurora LRT route (I think that's this one?) and yeah, it's pretty jank.
@@DanHominem Indeed, I am talking of the specific section of the R line, from Peoria station to the current H-line downtown/southeast connecting route terminus at 2nd and Abilene station. From this point south, its all dedicated RoW, but 2nd and Abilene north consists of only 2 rail bridges and the rest at-grade usually waiting for the light crossings.
Well OK i guess Colfax station is a bridge itself, and the bit that goes under I-225 just south of it counts as dedicated RoW but consider Sable and Alameda, as well as Sable and Exposition where the train went off the rails. Peoria and 32nd is another very long wait. Sometimes there is a wait north of Colfax station at the 17th avenue grade crossing. (And the fact the H line can't terminate at Aurora Metro Center is a huge wtf)
Baltimore transit in general is a joke. LRT, Metro, Buses and Marc. Marc is probably the best of them. Not sure why Baltimore has such poor transit compared to all the other big northeast cities. Good video though.
2:26 - The Smart-trip system is required to use the closer-in car parking at stations, so I have avoided using that closer-in paid parking.
Hm...Baltimore Metro- strange!
I just want more train lines to be built man. I hate these nimbys
I used to ride them both really frequently but I would say on days its actually running normally subway but the light rail north of cultural center is pretty good and south of camden yards
You know subway is better. They need to double stack the current subway with a new upper level replacing mezzanines to reroute the LRT to so it can go faster the street portion is a failure. FYI charmcard exists. You can add charm passes to the smart trip
Why do Baltimore's light rail vehicles appear to be the chonkiest of the Americas' lrt trains? Is it bc the windows are small? Does the Baltimore lrt actually have a bigger loading gauge?
"Why do Baltimore's light rail vehicles appear to be the chonkiest of the Americas' lrt trains?"
Because they are. 9.5 feet wide to be exact
They are also one of the largest LRT trains in the U.S too.
Fun fact! When the light rail was first built, they had to give enough clearance in the stations to let freight cars move through as some of the tracks would be going on an active freight route. So, the high-level ramps had to be far from the tracks, and the vehicle had to reach the ramp, so the light rail cars were built to be weirdly wide to accommodate that. Now, freight doesn't run along the tracks anymore, but that little artifact remains.
@aboringuy I noticed the old freight line near Hunt Valley during research and wondered what the story there was. Good to know!
I need to try Baltimore’s Metro & LR. But I have a strange feeling Richmond’s BRT is better.
I think the main reason they have a light rail is because of the Orioles. When they proposed creating a new ball park at Camden Yards, I remember hearing something about before they would commit to moving there they wanted some sort of transit system close. It’s kind of a moot point to ask which one is better, it’s not like you have an option to take one or the other. It depends on where you’re going, they go in totally different directions lol
Lol paying for the Metro
I would LOVE LRT to be low floor. Dragging a heavy suitcase up those steep stairs is no fun! And they won’t let you use the ramp if you don’t have a disability
And those signs for time have nothing to do with reality. Same for MARC. Transit app is the way here
Metro obviously. Then lightrail
The subway cars are horrible.
Baltimores transit in the absolute worst
they both suck.